Wilderdom:
Simple Living in Nature

What is Wilderdom?

Sometimes I am asked "What is Wilderdom?". Mostly people already know,
they just need a little reminder. Wilderdom is simply living in nature
-- taken to the full extent. When simple living in nature is taken to the
full extent, personal and systemic transformation ensues.

Wilderdom is
something of an experiment in utopia, but a very practical experiment
which is devoid of external rules that are not consistent with the
operations of nature. Wilderdom emphasizes that whatever living philosophy
one constructs, it cannot avoid the laws of nature, and the best way to get
familiar with the laws of nature is to live simply in natural surrounds.
Once placed within this context, the individual can attend to his/her
heart's greatest desire, whatever that may be at the time, such as bringing
up children, building, growing, studying, or providing a community with a product or service.

In the modern world, we have been led to believe that
we should take a job and then decide where to
live, but this creates disconnection from the start. Wilderdom starts with
choosing where to live, then finding fruitful employment or
business. The distinction here is somewhat arbitrary -- we live at
work, we work at home. In Wilderdom, getting
paid no longer matters, because one follows the higher principles of nature,
sourcing products early in their lifecycle, until eventually one can
recreate an optimal level of subsistence living but still in touch with
modern society if one so desires.

The Wilderdom philosophy is
simple - one should simply go about
one’s business, whatever that is, in life. If one isn't clear about
one's personal mission, then Wilderdom can still be started and it will
evolve as the person gets to know him/herself better. It is important to
realize that one should not get too attached
to a job because it can blind one to the real business of living.

It is critical to realise that
true Wilderdom starts with the lifestyle first that is intimate with nature,
and then, because the individuals' hearts are singing, they are quite well
able to manifest suitable activity, including "employment", should they
desire it. It is not a new idea - it harks back to Henry David Thoreau's
Walden, St Francis of Assisi,
and long before.

A person in Wilderdom will rarely suffer more over a
lifetime than the person who remains seduced by the normal props and
illusions more out of fear of risk than any great attraction to the normalcy. An honest-living person will
naturally find themselves of
benefit to a community who will then naturally, in turn, value the person sufficiently so as to provide sustenance for life. This
might be easier to understand as "God will look after me", but God, after
all, is just the greater unfathomable laws of nature. Put simply: attune oneself
with nature and one cannot fail. Deviate from consonance with nature
at your own peril.

Simple living in nature

In order to live, we
consume and expel air, water, food and use some basic living
tools. This necessarily involves movement; one cannot be static.
Thus, we must interact with the surrounds; entire
isolation is not possible. We give away the air we breath and the water and food that pass through us, and
then we must
search for more. That is the way of
survival for animals on planet Earth. And it is all we really need to
bother doing. Giving and receiving.

Yet,
we get so clouded and complicated. We work in jobs that are
not 100% true because we assume that monetary rewards can somehow filter
through to
satisfy our higher instincts. That is living in fear and such acts
impoverish the individual, community, and biosystem. Addiction to artificial living has almost irreparable consequences.

Wilderdom
is living simply in nature.
One can start out
by searching out a piece of land – anywhere in the world, wherever we may be
(the world is a big place) – and then creating an
arrangement with the local biosystem that will allow one to dwell, breathe, look for water, and find some food. One might
make a
shelter and a fireplace, and in so doing a new kind of life has now begun. One might
proceed and craft
some tools or bring some junk from the city.

Wilderdom is a concept, not a place.
It is freely franchisable and adaptable; it can be done by anyone, anywhere. As we satisfy
our lower motivations
through direct engagement with natural living processes, amazing new things start happening
and the higher faculties come pouring forth.
The most difficult part is initially leaving one's
known shores.

Robert Goizueta, the late
CEO of Coca Cola, said "In real estate it's location, location, location.
In business it's differentiate, differentiate, differentiate."

Is it possible to combine
these principles of ‘location’ and ‘differentiation’ to come up with an
effective real estate and business strategy for ethical purposes, that
is, the facilitation of human-ecological sustainability?

The idea here, is to invest
in a piece of real estate which is a good investment by virtue of its
location and undervalued market potential, and then to conduct oneself in a
way that leads to a deeply rewarding lifestyle both for oneself and the
surrounding environment.

Inner city
investment has been good – but that is harder and harder to find cheap.
Yet surprisingly beautiful tracts of wilderness or at least space are still available relatively
cheaply. The problem in many people's minds is how to get employment,
but with tools such as technology, access to external employment is much
more possible and the cost of sustainable living much reduced. As one starts working for one's
self, growing gardens and constructing basic dwellings, one gets around to
meet the local people and learn about what of one's talents or interests
might be of interest to the
community.

In today’s world, business
has come to mean a capitalistic, economic profit-making pursuit through the
provision of product or service. But we can claim back a softer
side to "business". Business is what we do with ourselves, our
‘busy-ness’. So, everything we do is our business, its not just Wall St. notions of business. Let's make it our business to transform
through natural efforts the driest dustbowls into vibrant oases. In
doing so, the how and why of living is solved. Remarkably, once one
stops fighting and fearing nature, and
cooperates, one's needs are more than
provided.

What has all this to do
with real estate, Coca-Cola, and good business? Location means find the
best piece of wilderness that most appeals to you. Differentiation
means making your own lifestyle. Simplicity means live from the heart
and with nature.

Our lives do not need to
have their backbone structured around spending one's greatest capabilities
and energy earning
enough money to invest in the stockmarket and retire with a permanent
income. We already live longer than any previous generation of human
beings and in our greedy pursuit of more we end up spending it all! Instead, strike out beyond cultural definitions of work and convention
and
try living out in the wilderness. Come up with your own way
of spending days and nights that satisfies your needs for air, water and food
and the rest will start to fall into place.

What will living in Wilderdom really be like?

Wilderdom is a concept,
rather than a place. The rules are the simply the rules of nature.
Everyone will find their own way. In a philosophical sense, the
particulars matter little. In an everyday sense, the particulars are
all that matter. Here is an example of what
one person's living in "Wilderdom" is like:

"My office is behind my home
in a garden. I consider the garden ‑ the flowers, trees, hummingbirds,
animals and insects ‑ all the life there ‑ to be co therapists with me.
Often clients will come a bit early to drink in the garden. Often they will
see something ‑ a new plant, something blooming or fading, some encounter
experienced or witnessed in the animal life, that touches their spirit and
thoughts simultaneously. This we incorporate into our conversations as we
not only work to heal what is wounded but also nourish, support and provide
space for what is new and yet to bloom in them. This is a rich and rewarding
experience for me too."
- Joanna Poppink, MFT, psychotherapist in
Los Angeles, 24/6/98 Spiritual
Issues in Medicine Discussion List

Here is
another:

"There was a wonderful old man up in Woodstock, New York, who had a piece of
property with these little chicken coop places he would rent out for twenty
dollars a year to any young person he thought might have a future in the
arts. There was no running water, only here and there a well and a
pump. He declared he wouldn't install running water because he didn't like
the class of people it attracted. That is where I did most of my basic
reading and work. It was great. I was following my bliss."
- Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, 1985/6, p. 120

Above all else, remember simplicity
in nature.
The rest will follow. I’ll see you there.